Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Mr.Scott]

As the series decider test match against Pakistan approaches, Australia has won the toss and chosen to bat first. How do you think the series will turn out?

Pakistan replaces Faheem Ashraf with Naseem Shah; but Australia remain unchanged. The match will demonstrate that Pakistan can beat Australia. For the first day of a test match, the pitch should provide more for bowlers. Here we go. Australians are 8/2, and Sahin Afridi has the early break.

Seems like Australia have recovered after two early wickets. Usman khawaja is in no mood of showing mercy to his country of birth as he is not out on 47 along with Smith on 41. I haven't seen the pitch so far just checked the score online, I am hopeful this match will be a decider. Let's wait for score till stumps.

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

Edit: Smith is gone. Will this be a turning point in the match?

An exciting beginning from Shaheen Shah, this is called class. After the loss of early wickets, the partnership between Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith discharge the headache of batting unit. Both are talented players, they take the responsibility and their third wickets stand has reinforced Australia. Khawaja well played in the subcontinent however it's unfortunate it's just 9 run short before celebrating century he got out.

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[galambo]

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

Edit: Smith is gone. Will this be a turning point in the match?

Five wickets gone. Pakistan have got important wikcets of khawaja and smith. Still I would say Australia are in good position as they have scored 211 runs and if they can make 300 ( which surely they will) then Aussies bowlers have a great chance to take lead in first innings.
In this series many players are victim of nervous 90s. Khawaja is the latest one.

[UmerIdrees]

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

Edit: Smith is gone. Will this be a turning point in the match?

Five wickets gone. Pakistan have got important wikcets of khawaja and smith. Still I would say Australia are in good position as they have scored 211 runs and if they can make 300 ( which surely they will) then Aussies bowlers have a great chance to take lead in first innings.
In this series many players are victim of nervous 90s. Khawaja is the latest one.

Overall I would say that it was a Pakistani team day. They not only took five wickets on a batting track but also bowled well. Australian team only managed to make 232 runs in 88 overs at a slow run rate. I am not saying that Pakistan will win the match from here but if we only look at the test match day by day, the first day truly belong to the Paksitani team.

[Mahdirakib]

In Pakistan case, it's same happening with Pakistan is already in some good position for qualifying into WTC final and staying at second spot behind Australia they need some more points for this spot which is only possible with these flat pitches with Australia is currently world's most attractive and best team in presence of quality batsmen and bowlers and Pakistani youths have no good experience to face them, so they are doing these dirty tactics for WTC points and staying alive against quality teams.

The second test between West Indies and England has ended as a draw too. It was meant to be happen. But I think, the third test match between Pakistan and Australia isn't going to end as a draw. Maybe there will be a winner of the last test match of this series, and it will determine the series winner. How long Pakistan will be able to stay at second position for making those flat pitch! They should have made an average pitch which would help both bowlers and batsmen. Pakistani players are having some good batting practice for those kind of pitch. They won't be able to play well in different pitch condition.

[bitgov]

Overall I would say that it was a Pakistani team day. They not only took five wickets on a batting track but also bowled well. Australian team only managed to make 232 runs in 88 overs at a slow run rate. I am not saying that Pakistan will win the match from here but if we only look at the test match day by day, the first day truly belong to the Paksitani team.

Good day for Pakistan team. The early two wickets taken by Shaheen Shah was a wonderful break through. He looked so happy. But I feel the series will end in drawn series. But we watched some good cricket from both the teams. Looking fwd to the second day. Hope Pindiwals are not much upset for not having match in Rawalpindi LAhori seems so excited for hosting the series!

[romero121]

End of the day Australia had a slow scoring and Pakistan is good at its bowling taking five wickets. By the second day of the match Australia will continue and it'll reach atleast 325 runs. As the first two matches got drawn, this match is expected much. For now this match is not into anyone, this also gonna get drawn. If there were early wickets on tomorrow's morning session the match could change.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Test cricket already does not have too many spectators or fans.  and if this continues the fans for spectator Count is obviously going to decline further,  this is obviously not good for test cricket. I really thought Pakistan had the ability to give Australia a good fight on a good bowling pitch but I think they just did not want to take that chance.

The defensive stance taken by the PCB (with regards to the pitch preparation) is above all an insult to the Pakistani bowlers. By preparing such sub-standard pitches, the PCB is indirectly hinting that their bowlers don't have the ability to take wickets in good tracks, and they are inferior to their Australian counterparts. This actually surprises me because for long Pakistan was considered as the pace powerhouse of South Asia. A lot many legendary pacers, including Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Aaquib Javed and Waqar Younis represented Pakistan in the past.

Actually, the Pakistan cricket board got scared because they had some injuries in their lineup. And I think they did not want to risk it.

So, they did not do anything stupid and bladed safe but that's the mistake they did in my opinion. I think at least they should have tried to look up and fight against Australia and give their bowlers a chance of showing what they are capable of. I think we are going to see something like that in the third test though.

[Minecache]

End of the day Australia had a slow scoring and Pakistan is good at its bowling taking five wickets. By the second day of the match Australia will continue and it'll reach atleast 325 runs. As the first two matches got drawn, this match is expected much. For now this match is not into anyone, this also gonna get drawn. If there were early wickets on tomorrow's morning session the match could change.

I am actually sad that Usman Khwaja could not reach his three figure mark. But, I actually think Australia played really well and handled the Pakistani bowlers well enough.

Now it is kind of absolute on day two it will be really hard for the Australian batsmen to survive the first session against the bowling lineup of the Pakistan team. At least this isn't going to be like the previous two test matches in my opinion.

[S A KHAIR]

In Pakistan case, it's same happening with Pakistan is already in some good position for qualifying into WTC final and staying at second spot behind Australia they need some more points for this spot which is only possible with these flat pitches with Australia is currently world's most attractive and best team in presence of quality batsmen and bowlers and Pakistani youths have no good experience to face them, so they are doing these dirty tactics for WTC points and staying alive against quality teams.

The second test between West Indies and England has ended as a draw too. It was meant to be happen. But I think, the third test match between Pakistan and Australia isn't going to end as a draw. Maybe there will be a winner of the last test match of this series, and it will determine the series winner. How long Pakistan will be able to stay at second position for making those flat pitch! They should have made an average pitch which would help both bowlers and batsmen. Pakistani players are having some good batting practice for those kind of pitch. They won't be able to play well in different pitch condition.

Test cricket is already at its all-time low in my opinion and if the culture of draws keeps going on I think it is only a matter of time before the test cricket loses everything that it had.
Anyway, I think the third test between Pakistan and Australia is shaping up quite nicely to have a result. It will be really nice to see Pakistan win this test match.

[lixer]

Actually, the Pakistan cricket board got scared because they had some injuries in their lineup. And I think they did not want to risk it.

So, they did not do anything stupid and bladed safe but that's the mistake they did in my opinion. I think at least they should have tried to look up and fight against Australia and give their bowlers a chance of showing what they are capable of. I think we are going to see something like that in the third test though.

Surely this is main reason and already described by PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja after having some good criticism from around the cricket world about their these tactics against Australia which came after 24 years and secondly this was done for marketing purpose because we already watch some quick ends in India which give big loses to television channels and also BCCI even they can afford these all but PCB is having completely different situation, and they don't want to give any weak point but surely now they will prepare very good at coming series against England and New Zealand which are also coming in next few months for their respective tours for playing Test Matches, ODI and T20 after T20 World Cup in Australia in October.

[dezoel]

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

After two dead and bore test matches now look like this third test match is also heading for this same result but still tomorrow first session is very important for both teams if Pakistan takes early wickets and bowled them before 325 then surely they can do some better just need some good score on board for some good interest in this match and if Australians have some good inning from remaining players then most chances we will have 0 - 0 for this series which could be the worst result of this year 2022 in most wanted test series after few decades.

Usman Khawaja have very good time after very good inning in The Ashes now 2 centuries and now 91 runs third inning giving him some good chance for Australian squad which is going to tour India in coming months.
Pakistan's replacement Naseem Shah for Faheem was having some positive impact that they are going to for good supportive pitch but nothing special happened.

[Sithara007]

Test cricket is already at its all-time low in my opinion and if the culture of draws keeps going on I think it is only a matter of time before the test cricket loses everything that it had.
Anyway, I think the third test between Pakistan and Australia is shaping up quite nicely to have a result. It will be really nice to see Pakistan win this test match.

Stupidity from ICC is the prime reason for the demise of test cricket. When they launched the WTC, they were saying that the popularity of test format will receive a boost. However, we are seeing just the opposite of that right now. In order to gain points in WTC, weak teams like Pakistan and West Indies are preparing flat pitches and this is causing fans to completely abandon watching the test format. If we want good quality test matches, then there should be two real divisions in this format. The first division should comprise of the big-4 and one other country.

[JohnBitCo]

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

After two dead and bore test matches now look like this third test match is also heading for this same result but still tomorrow first session is very important for both teams if Pakistan takes early wickets and bowled them before 325 then surely they can do some better just need some good score on board for some good interest in this match and if Australians have some good inning from remaining players then most chances we will have 0 - 0 for this series which could be the worst result of this year 2022 in most wanted test series after few decades.

Remember that Pakistan team collapsed in the first innings of the 2nd test match. If Australian team manages to score 350 runs, they can still get under pressure and may bowled out quickly. A lot depends on how the remaining five Australian batsmen play today. If they can survive the first session, i am sure the game will be in the hands of Aussies.

[Juggy777]

Shaheen Shah did take two early wickets but it was very early in the match. Now the things have settled and also the pitch look good for batting. Its too early to say who will win the match or whether this will be another draw.

After two dead and bore test matches now look like this third test match is also heading for this same result but still tomorrow first session is very important for both teams if Pakistan takes early wickets and bowled them before 325 then surely they can do some better just need some good score on board for some good interest in this match and if Australians have some good inning from remaining players then most chances we will have 0 - 0 for this series which could be the worst result of this year 2022 in most wanted test series after few decades.

Remember that Pakistan team collapsed in the first innings of the 2nd test match. If Australian team manages to score 350 runs, they can still get under pressure and may bowled out quickly. A lot depends on how the remaining five Australian batsmen play today. If they can survive the first session, i am sure the game will be in the hands of Aussies.

@JohnBitCo currently Australian batsmen look well settled and have scored 320 runs, and if they bat the entire day then this match will definitely end up in a boring draw. Lastly I don’t expect Pakistan’s batting lineup to collapse once again, hence unless they bowl out Australia quickly there’s no way a result can be achieved in this match.

[coinism]

Stupidity from ICC is the prime reason for the demise of test cricket. When they launched the WTC, they were saying that the popularity of test format will receive a boost. However, we are seeing just the opposite of that right now. In order to gain points in WTC, weak teams like Pakistan and West Indies are preparing flat pitches and this is causing fans to completely abandon watching the test format. If we want good quality test matches, then there should be two real divisions in this format. The first division should comprise of the big-4 and one other country.

Are you sure Pakistan is weak team? They have one of the best boys these days. They don't play IPL that doesn't mean they are weak. Pakistan these days is as good as any best team these days. So far 11 wickets have been fallen and seems like we are having a result for this match. Trust me no one is interested in WTC, you yourself always criticise test cricket.

[JSRAW]

The defensive stance taken by the PCB (with regards to the pitch preparation) is above all an insult to the Pakistani bowlers. By preparing such sub-standard pitches, the PCB is indirectly hinting that their bowlers don't have the ability to take wickets in good tracks, and they are inferior to their Australian counterparts. This actually surprises me because for long Pakistan was considered as the pace powerhouse of South Asia. A lot many legendary pacers, including Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Aaquib Javed and Waqar Younis represented Pakistan in the past.

Actually, the Pakistan cricket board got scared because they had some injuries in their lineup. And I think they did not want to risk it.

So, they did not do anything stupid and bladed safe but that's the mistake they did in my opinion. I think at least they should have tried to look up and fight against Australia and give their bowlers a chance of showing what they are capable of. I think we are going to see something like that in the third test though.

Scared of the opponent sounds bit overstretch here. Yeah there might be some concern in Pakistan's camp because some of their bowlers were not fit to play but they are playing at home conditions, they could have easily introduce some young guy from the domestic, its not like there is shortage of gun speedster in the pakistan.

Another possible argument could be that they wanted to make sure game goes for all 5 days due to this historic series and end up making roads (Saying this because creating international cricket pitch take more than 1 month).  Although as Indian supporter i'm happy that they didn't gave any spin practice to Aussie batting line up (Already staring at BG trophy).  

[Swordsoffreedom]

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Scared of the opponent sounds bit overstretch here. Yeah there might be some concern in Pakistan's camp because some of their bowlers were not fit to play but they are playing at home conditions, they could have easily introduce some young guy from the domestic, its not like there is shortage of gun speedster in the pakistan.

Another possible argument could be that they wanted to make sure game goes for all 5 days due to this historic series and end up making roads (Saying this because creating international cricket pitch take more than 1 month).  Although as Indian supporter i'm happy that they didn't gave any spin practice to Aussie batting line up (Already staring at BG trophy).  

Actually, I didn't mean to say they are scared of the opponent . I meant to say that they got scared because of their own injury problems. They had a few injuries Right before the series started.

So, that might have had a big impact on how the pitch was prepared. Before the series started I thought it is going to be a really close matter and the teams are going to have their work cut out but it was another story altogether. But the third test seems to be shaping up to have a result in my opinion.

Surely this is main reason and already described by PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja after having some good criticism from around the cricket world about their these tactics against Australia which came after 24 years and secondly this was done for marketing purpose because we already watch some quick ends in India which give big loses to television channels and also BCCI even they can afford these all but PCB is having completely different situation, and they don't want to give any weak point but surely now they will prepare very good at coming series against England and New Zealand which are also coming in next few months for their respective tours for playing Test Matches, ODI and T20 after T20 World Cup in Australia in October.

I think that the Pakistan cricket board knows very well about the impact their approach to the pitch has created. That also is a big reason why the pitch of the third test is not like the previous two. In this match, the bowlers are certainly finding some success, unlike the previous two test matches.

[blatchcorn]

I think that the Pakistan cricket board knows very well about the impact their approach to the pitch has created. That also is a big reason why the pitch of the third test is not like the previous two. In this match, the bowlers are certainly finding some success, unlike the previous two test matches.

One other reason may be that both Australia and Pakistan teams of same level that's why are seeing tough competition.  Still we have 3 more days to go and if Australia can get Pakistan out tomorrow and take lead of 100 or 200 then surely they are in a position to win this game. My guess is that it will be a draw.

[laurenB7742]

Test cricket is already at its all-time low in my opinion and if the culture of draws keeps going on I think it is only a matter of time before the test cricket loses everything that it had.
Anyway, I think the third test between Pakistan and Australia is shaping up quite nicely to have a result. It will be really nice to see Pakistan win this test match.

Stupidity from ICC is the prime reason for the demise of test cricket. When they launched the WTC, they were saying that the popularity of test format will receive a boost. However, we are seeing just the opposite of that right now. In order to gain points in WTC, weak teams like Pakistan and West Indies are preparing flat pitches and this is causing fans to completely abandon watching the test format. If we want good quality test matches, then there should be two real divisions in this format. The first division should comprise of the big-4 and one other country.

I think the world test championship was not the best idea to give Test Cricket a boost. And I think all the cricket fans know and agree that out of anything the ashes was the best test series ever played.
So, instead of introducing the world test championship, I think it would have been better if the ICC could do something like the ashes. That would have been a lot better for test cricket in the long run.

[SirLancelot]

I think the world test championship was not the best idea to give Test Cricket a boost. And I think all the cricket fans know and agree that out of anything the ashes was the best test series ever played.
So, instead of introducing the world test championship, I think it would have been better if the ICC could do something like the ashes. That would have been a lot better for test cricket in the long run.

I agree with your statement about this but sadly right now ICC have no enough choices because with franchise cricket is already having big impact on this all and quality of test cricket is also going down day by day as we can watch few teams are going down very quickly, so they have done a good planning from their own prospective.

But, it's not having any positive impact, so they need to think about this again and try to manage some changes with having big fines for pitches like we already have in few countries and give some good funds to few countries which have good native players as they are able to work on their domestic set up and bring some good test playing guys with having some good quality and skills even it's all just thoughts because no one want to go with this all but still they can do something if they want to have some better hopes.